Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Raises Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 145.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,751 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,996 shares during the quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,467,000. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 68,504 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,400,000 after buying an additional 35,359 shares during the period. Elwood Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $832,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $216,771,000 after buying an additional 23,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 5,110 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $850,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Woodward Trading Down 10.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $157.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $184.93 and its 200 day moving average is $177.17. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.45 and a 1 year high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total transaction of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $3,008,109.72. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 over the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.38.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.